Melbourne's digital games sector has produced four games which have hit the top of the iTunes charts at home and abroad.
Mobile game Shooty Skies, which follows on from the success of the globally popular Victoria-made game Crossy Road, was launched on Friday and went straight to number one on the Australian charts and number two in the USA.
Shooty Skies is the first release from the newly established game development studio Mighty Games, a collaboration between Crossy Road creators Andy Sum and Matt Hall in partnership with local industry veterans Matt Ditton (founder of independent studio Many Monkeys) and Ben Britten (formerly of Tin Man Games).
Mighty Games was founded in The Arcade, a collaborative working space for the games industry located at Southbank and supported by Creative Victoria.
Taking out the top spot in the US was street-racing mobile game Need For Speed: No Limits, developed by Firemonkeys, the local creative minds behind globally successful games Flight Control, Real Racing and The Sims Freeplay.
Also representing Victoria on the national and international charts was driving game Torque Burnout from Fitzroybased producers League of Monkeys, and skateboarding game True Skate by Melbourne-based company True Axis.
Victoria is home to close to half of Australia’s digital games industry, with more than 100 game development studios, animation houses and games industry service providers.
The strengths of the local industry will go on show from October 23 to November 1 during the inaugural Melbourne International Games Week.
Game Developers’ Association of Australia chief executive, Antony Reed said seeing four Melbourne-made games in the Top 10 of the iOS App Store was incredible, but not surprising.
"Our local sector has been flourishing for years – we have some of the world’s most innovative and talented game developers right on our doorstep,” he said.
“Our constant presence in the global charts is a testament to their creativity and brilliance, and we congratulate them wholeheartedly."